Phantom Pavilion Appears in Prairie Basin Park

Phantom Pavilion is located at Trenton St. and Stoll Pl. in north Stapleton.The skin of the pavilion has a complex pattern of openings that create visual effects on the ground below.

Phantom Pavilion, the newly installed public art sculpture in Prairie Basin Park, is located in the promontory on Trenton Street at Stoll Place. You can’t miss it though. With its dynamic shape and silhouette it appears to be in motion while constantly changing its appearance. From a distance, it reads like a vision or mirage which is embedded into the open landscape in Prairie Basin Park in north Stapleton.

The pavilion welcomes its visitors, guests, and the local community with its fluid form and landscape of colors; variations of teal and black and white. It offers both shading and seating elements to visitors to the park. The canopy of the pavilion features an array of multiple colors while introducing a joyful color gradient from left to right and top to bottom. The skin of the pavilion also features a complex pattern of openings which produce playful shadows on the ground and ambiguous visual effects during the day and change of seasons.

The artist, Volkan Alkanoglu, lives in Cambridge, MA. He designed this sculpture as a light-weight structure assembled with two layers of painted cross-laminated aluminum acting as an independent structural shell. The symmetrical pavilion consists of three iconic vaults and stands 16 feet tall at its highest point. This complex artwork was created by Demiurge, LLC, a local fabricator and installer.

Park Creek Metropolitan District awarded the $175,000 commission for this artwork on the recommendation of an art selection committee composed of artists, engineers, landscape architects, representatives from Denver Parks and neighbors from this area. The funds for this commission come from the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.

For more information about this sculpture or the Public Art Collection at Stapleton, please contact Barbara Neal, Public Art Consultant for Stapleton at barbaraneal@mindspring.com.